Masato Yoshizawa

I have worked for more than 10 years on the cavefish genetics of behaviors by developing new assay devices, recording systems and bioinformatics scripts. I was also trained in the fields of mouse neurobiology, cell and molecular biology and developmental biology during my Ph.D. These facilitated me to conduct researches in integrated biological fields. Research from my laboratory aims to reveal the evolutionary and neural mechanisms that lead to the expression of adaptive behaviors in a given environment. Beyond this ASD project, cavefish gene function will be reversed back to the level of surface fish by inhibiting or overexpressing genes of interest (with CRISPR-on/-off, or Transgene). This could reveal how neural wirings are modified, and how evolution avoids side-effects of genetic changes. This project is, therefore, the core of what our laboratory focuses on.

April 2017